The time-honored way of showing love in an Italian family is to offer food. Whether we're celebrating, mourning, happy, sad--if we're breathing, there's a table filled with great things to eat. Life's too short, so eat what you love and love what you eat.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Snickerdoodle Scones

A few months ago I made snickerdoodle bread and while eating it was certainly the best part of the experience, the wonderful smell permeated the house for hours. Since I don't like keeping sweets around the house, but enjoy indulging every now and again, I decided to make something that was already portioned: snickerdoodle scones. I figured I'd use a basic scone recipe and add the spices and some of those wonderful cinnamon chips that I discovered in the chocolate chip aisle.For the Scones:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together sour cream and egg; refrigerate until needed.
In a separate small bowl, make the cinnamon/sugar topping be stirring together the sugar and cinnamon; set aside.
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cream of tartar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg until combined about five 1-second pulses. Add butter and toss with a fork to cover in flour mixture. Pulse until mixture looks like coarse cornmeal flecked with pea-sized bits of butter, about 10 to 12 pulses. Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl.
Add sour cream mixture to flour mixture; fold with spatula until just combined. With rubber spatula, transfer dough to lightly floured work surface. Knead dough 6 to 8 times, until it just holds together. Shape into an 8-inch circle. Sprinkle with cinnamon topping. With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into 8 wedges. (I have a scone pan, so I used that.)
Place wedges on prepared baking sheet and bake 15 to 18 minutes until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

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TASTE NOTES

Because I wanted to squeeze in my morning walk (yes, there was an element of guilt there), I prepared the scones the night before and placed the pan in the refrigerator. I took them out of the refrigerator and left them on the counter for about 30 minutes before placing them in the oven. The smell drifted downstairs to where I was on the treadmill trying to burn some calories in anticipation of this Sunday morning treat. The scones had a wonderful crumb, were as delicious as they were fragrant, and leftovers have been wrapped in freezer bags to be enjoyed on a future Sunday morning.